Page:Field Book of Stars.djvu/141

Rh Although Jupiter appears to move slowly, it really travels at the incomprehensible rate of five hundred miles a minute.

The most interesting feature about Jupiter is its four moons, which are visible with good binocularsa good glass [sic]. They appear like mere dots of light, and their transit of or occultation with the planet (that is, their disappearance before or behind its disk) can be watched, and is a never failing source of pleasure. A telescope alone reveals Jupiter's fifth moon.

SATURN.

Saturn is farther removed from the earth than any of the planets in the solar system, visible to the naked eye. It is distinguished from the fixed stars by the steadiness of its light, which is dull and of a yellow hue, though to some it appears to be of a greenish tinge. It seems barely to move, so slow is its motion among the stars, for it takes two and one half years to pass through a single constellation of the Zodiac.

Saturn has eight moons. Titan, its largest one, can be seen with a good glass under favorable circumstances. As for its celebrated rings, a telescope alone reveals them.

URANUS.

The student will hardly mistake Uranus for a fixed star, as it is only under the most favorable circumstances that it can be seen with the naked eye.